i -'■ 



COLLAPSE OF 
CHRISTLESS 
CIVILIZA TIONS 



RICHARD CAMERON WYLIE, LL.D. 




Class _VE_LL-ir 



Book, 






GoKiight}(^. 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



COLLAPSE OF 
CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 



Richard Cameron Wylib ^ 



COLLAPSE 

OF 

CHRISTLESS 
CIVILIZATIONS 



Richard Cameron Wylie, D.D., LL.D. 

Author of "Our Educational System: Is it 

Christian or Secular?" "Sabbath Laws 

in the United States," etc. 



National Reform Association 

209 Ninth St., Pittsburgh, Pa. 

1918 

Price 50 Cents, Postpaid 



tR\^^ 




©3.i5'i:U49 



"^ INTRODUCTION 

Thousands of books have already been 
inspired by the Great War, and many 
other thousands will doubtless yet be 
written. Only a few, however, will be 
given a permanent place because of 
intrinsic merit. Their worth will be 
determined by the spirit by which they 
are inspired, by the ability of their 
authors to comprehend the great prob- 
lems involved in the war, and by the 
skill with which the facts are set forth 
and the solution of these problems 
presented. 

While the following discussion is not a 
war book except in a very general sense, 
it was directly inspired by the war. It 
was written as the result of a conference 
of some of the oflScials of the National 
Reform Association who felt that the 
times demanded some such presentation 
of the principles of national life. This 
5 



INTRODUCTION 

Association had its birth during the 
most trying period of our civil war. It 
came into being as the result of a nation- 
wide conviction that we as a people had 
forgotten God, and that the war was 
God's judgment for our national sin. 

Ever since its organization the National 
Reform Association has been instant, in 
season and out of season, in pressing the 
claims of God and of Christ upon the 
attention of the people. This has been 
done with more than ordinary diligence 
ever since the outbreak of the great world 
war. This booklet is something of an 
index to the kind of work carried on by 
means of the press, the platform and 
the pulpit. 

Of all the war books thus far published 
the writer does not know of one that 
views the world-problems involved from 
the standpoint here taken. And yet this 
is the only standpoint from which the 
whole field can be surveyed, the vexatious 
problems understood, the key to their 
6 



INTRODUCTION 

solution discovered, and the conditions 
of permanent peace and prosperity per- 
ceived. This is the chief reason why- 
thoughtful people are invited to peruse 
these pages. 

A debt of gratitude is due former 
United States Senator Frank J. Cannon 
for suggestions of great value concerning 
the character of this discussion. 

R. C. W. 
Pittsburgh, Pa., July 1, 1918. 



CONTENTS 

Page 

Introduction 5 

I. National Insubordination to the 

Divine Order 11 

II. National Destiny Determined by 

National Character 13 

III. Christ Enthroned as Ruler of 

Nations 19 

IV. Implications 45 

V. National Sent 66 

VI. Christ's Administration 76 

VII. Historical Confirmation 89 

VIII. The Twentieth Century Collapse 110 

IX. "Now Therefore be Wise, O Ye 

Kings" 117 

X. Summary Statement 122 

XI. Difficulties 124 

XII. Concluding Appeal 129 



COLLAPSE OF 
CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

I 

National Insubordination to the 
Divine Order 

Why do the nations rage, 
And the peoples meditate a vain thing? 
The kings of the earth set themselves, 
And the rulers take counsel together, 
Against Jehovah and against his Christ, 

saying, 
Let us break their bonds asunder. 
And cast away their cords from us. 

He that sitteth in the heavens will 

laugh; 
The Lord will have them in derision. 
Then will he speak unto them in his 

wrath, 
And vex them in his sore displeasure : 
Yet I have set my king 
Upon my holy hill of Zion. 
11 



COLLAPSE OF 

I will tell of the decree : 

Jehovah said unto me. Thou art mv Son: 

This dav have I begotten thee. 

Ask CI me, and I will give thee the nations 

for thine inheritance. 
And the uttermost parts of the earth for 

thv possession. 
Thoa shalt break them with a rod of iron : 
Hmmi shalt dash them in pieces like a 

potter's vessel. 

Now therefore be wise, ye kings: 
Be histructed. ve judges of the earth- 
Serve Jehovah with fear. 
And rejoice with trembling. 
Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and 

ye perish in the way, 
For his wrath wiQ soon be kindled. 
Blessed are all they that take refuge 

in him. 

(TS^ Second Psalm'} 



U 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 
II 

National Destiny Determined by 
National Character 

In the ancient Hebrew song just quoted 
there is placed in our hands the key to 
the destiny of nations. It is a warning 
to every nation, no matter in what period 
of the world's history it exists or on what 
continent it is located, that unless it 
adjusts its relations with the divine 
government in accordance with the fact 
that Christ is King, it will be broken to 
pieces. 

The use made of this Psalm in the 
New Testament leaves no room to doubt 
its true import. It is a solemn admoni- 
tion and warning to nations and their 
rulers because of their hostile attitude 
toward the Lord Jesus Christ as the 
Ruler of this world; toward Jehovah who 
has delegated to him the authority to 
rule; toward his revealed will as the law 
13 



COLLAPSE OF 

of national life. Unless this hostile 
attitude is abandoned, destruction awaits 
them. 

Peoples and rulers are not here con- 
sidered as mere private individuals. 
Nations as corporate bodies capable of 
right and wrong action are first men- 
tioned. "Why do the nations rage, and 
the peoples meditate a vain thing?" 
This language implies that supreme polit- 
ical authority is vested in the body of 
the people, and that this national body 
is primarily responsible for the attitude 
of hostility to Christ. The fundamental 
principle of democracy is here recognized. 

Rulers of all ranks are next presented 
in their oflBcial capacity, bearing a large 
share of responsibility for national insub- 
ordination to the divine order. "The 
kings of the earth set themselves, and 
the rulers take counsel together against 
Jehovah and against his Christ." This 
public, national, official attitude of hos- 
tility to the Ruler of nations is the root 
14 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

of all national evils and the cause of 
national dowTifall. 

The description here given of nations 
in tumult most graphically sets forth the 
present world condition. The situation 
is appalling in the highest degree. 

"Had I a hundred mouths, a hundred tongues, 
A voice of brass and adamantine lungs, 
Not half the dreadful scene could I disclose." 

Perhaps as never before there is "upon 
the earth distress of nations, in perplexity 
for the roaring of the sea and the billows, 
men fainting for fear, and for expectation 
of the things which are coming on the 
world." But it would be a mistake to 
regard the present world conditions as 
altogether unprecedented. Nor does the 
Second Psalm predict national calamities 
of a nature that had never before occurred. 
Its declarations are in harmony with 
historical facts which always and every- 
where characterize the divine govern- 
ment. Many a time in the past have 
15 



COLLAPSE OF 

the fountains of the great deep been 
broken up and the windows of heaven 
opened to pour out torrents of divine 
judgments upon nations for their sins. 
One civihzation after another has gone 
down into the depths of oblivion, and 
the fundamental reason was their hos- 
tile attitude toward the divine order. 

The warning here uttered is accom- 
panied by clear, pointed, unmistakable 
instruction, consisting of a declaration 
of the truths to which nations and rulers 
should give heed. If all ranks and con- 
ditions of men could be induced to pon- 
der these truths the world would soon be 
in possession of the highest type of 
political wisdom. Men have been led 
to revise their political theories as a result 
of such study. There is reason to believe 
that the political systems of the world 
will be revolutionized when the knowl- 
edge of these truths becomes general. 

The contents of the entire Psalm may 
be briefly summarized. The first stanza 
16 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

gives a graphic description of the nations 
plotting together against the reign of 
Christ. 

The second represents the Lord 
securely enthroned in the heavens laugh- 
ing derisively at the vainglorious efforts 
of the nations to annul the divine decree 
whereby Christ was enthroned over the 
world. What a spectacle the inspired 
poet here exhibits to our view. How 
dreadful the tragedy in which this spec- 
tacle ends. And yet the nations do not 
take it to heart and learn wisdom. 
Nations and their rulers are still striving 
together to defeat the divine purpose and 
God on his throne scornfully laughs at 
their consummate folly. But that laugh- 
ter is the prelude to judicial wrath. 

The third stanza embodies the instruc- 
tion to which nations must give heed or 
perish. It is the declaration of Christ 
himself announcing the decree whereby 
he is made Ruler of the nations of the 
world. "Ask of me, and I will give thee 
17 



COLLAPSE OF 

the nations for thine inheritance, and 
the uttermost parts of the earth for thy 
possession. Thou shalt break them with 
a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in 
pieces like a potter's vessel." Can there 
be any doubt about the meaning of these 
words? It is incipient rebelhon to deny 
that they declare Christ's right to govern 
the nations and to bless or crush them 
according to their works. 

The fourth stanza is an exhortation to 
ci^'il rulers to submit to the authority* of 
Christ, coupled with the solemn assur- 
ance that continued rebellion means 
national disaster, but that submission 
will bring national blessedness. 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

III 

Christ Enthroned as Ruler of 
Nations 

A number of momentous questions here 
arise which must be answered. If all 
this is true, why are nations so slow to 
learn the lesson? Why do they risk 
ruin by persisting in their rebellious 
attitude? Have they as yet no con- 
ception of the truth so solemnly an- 
nounced three thousand years ago? If 
not, why not? Why have not the 
ambassadors of Christ as his prophets to 
the nations proclaimed it to all the world? 
Since this has not been done it might be 
wise to inquire whether or not some mis- 
take has been made about the meaning 
of this Psalm. Is it true that Jesus 
Christ is the world's Ruler and that the 
distress of nations is their just punish- 
ment for refusal to submit to his sceptre? 
And even if he is, may not this fact be a 

19 



COLLAPSE OF 

mere theological dogma with which prac- 
tical politics has nothing to do? Is it 
not folly to urge upon nations and their 
rulers the consideration of theological 
questions which belong only in the realm 
of religious controversy? These points 
must be considered with the utmost care. 
The proof that Christ is the Ruler of 
nations must be presented first. That 
proof is found chiefly in the Scriptures of 
the Old and the New Testament. It 
would be easy to marshal a host of proof 
texts from either one or both these 
divisions of the Bible, but the result may 
be more satisfactory' if the general trend 
of BibHcal thought can be discovered. 
In general the Bible is the record of the 
unfolding of God's purpose and plan con- 
cerning the world of fallen humanity. 
It presents the method whereby he 
intends to re-establish his kingdom on 
the earth. That plan is placed in the 
hands of Christ as Mediator between 
God and man who undertakes to caivy it 
20 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

through by the execution of the threefold 
office of Prophet, Priest and King. As 
Prophet he has commissioned his ambas- 
sadors to deliver a message to nations as 
well as to individuals. That message 
presents the law of national righteous- 
ness as the condition of national peace 
and prosperity. Nations need Christ 
as Priest because they have sinned in 
refusing to submit to that law, and their 
sins must be either pardoned or punished. 
This discussion has to do chiefly with the 
kingly office. In the Old Testament, 
which records the preparation made for 
the Advent of Christ, the kingly office 
was given such prominence that the 
Hebrews lost sight of almost all else and 
looked for a Messiah who would come 
as a conquering king. They were right 
in holding that his work would culmi- 
nate in his enthronement, since both the 
prophetic and the priestly functions are 
subordinate to this end. But they were 
wrong in their conception of the char- 
21 



COLLAPSE OF 

acter of his kingdom and of the steps 
whereby he was to reach the throne. 

The trend of Bibhcal thought on this 
topic may be briefly outUned. The uni- 
verse is one vast dominion of which God 
is King. The world is a province in 
rebellion. Through the seductions of 
satan the human race became estranged 
from God, and this estrangement is 
specially manifested in social and political 
life. One civilization after another has 
been overthrown because of opposition 
to the reign of God. 

A new civilization, however, was 
founded with the call of Abraham. All 
nations had become hopelessly corrupt 
and God formed a new nation out of 
Abraham's descendants. This new civil- 
ization was based upon the principle of 
national subjection to God as Supreme 
Ruler and to His Will as supreme law. 
This principle was written into their 
national constitution and ratified by a 
solemn covenant. This principle must 
22 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

underlie all enduring ci\dlizations. Israel 
was t^T)ical of the kingdom of God on 
earth. It was the kingdom in miniature. 
It illustrates what all nations should be 
in their relation to the Divine Ruler and 
to his law. But this Divine Ruler into 
whose hands supreme authority is com- 
mitted is always declared to be no other 
than Christ the Son of God. The king- 
dom idea is unfolded in connection with 
the career of the Hebrew Common- 
wealth. This was the supreme vocation 
of that nation. This vocation is fulfilled 
in histoids prophecy and song. While 
these are often mingled together, they 
are three distinct literary forms whereby 
the divine purpose concerning Christ's 
authority over the nations is presented. 

It is not necessary to introduce into 
this discussion any of the problems con- 
cerning the structure of the Old Testa- 
ment. It is assumed that all classes of 
scholars believe that it contains distinct 
teachings about the kingdom and that 



COLLAPSE OF 

those teachings are still further unfolded 
in the New Testament. Our principal 
aim is to discover its teachings on one 
point, namely, the kingly authority of 
Christ over all nations. 

The key to many of the mysteries of 
the divine kingdom is found in the prom- 
ise made to Abraham when God called 
him to be the founder of a new civiliza- 
tion, which promise was repeated no less 
than seven times. In its final form it 
may be here quoted and should be care- 
fully pondered: "By myself have I 
sworn, saith Jehovah, that in blessing I 
will bless thee, and in multiplying I will 
multiply thy seed as the stars of the 
heavens, and as the sand which is upon 
the sea-shore. And thy seed shall pos- 
sess the gate of his enemies; and in thy 
seed shall all the nations of the earth be 
blessed." The history of Israel com- 
prises merely the preliminary chapters 
touching the fulfillment of this promise. 
The conquest of Canaan was t}T)ical and 
24 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

prophetical of the conquest of the world 
by Christ and his people. The seed in 
whom all nations are to be blessed is 
certainly Christ himseK. The fact that 
the literal Israel never achieved the con- 
quests here promised, the fact that the 
kingdom has been taken from that nation, 
and the additional fact that Christian 
people are declared to be the true Israel, 
sustain these positions. Under this prom- 
ise the whole purpose and plan of God 
with reference to his kingdom on earth 
are carried forward to their consumma- 
tion. Old Testament history therefore 
unfolds the truth that Christ is the Ruler 
of the world. 

Christ is the central figure in all the 
prophetic books, and not many of them 
close without a glowing description of his 
conquest of the world and the establish- 
ment of his authority over all nations. 
There are two classes of prophetic an- 
nouncements; those that present the 
kingdom in general terms, indicating that 
25 



COLLAPSE OF 

it embraces all nations alike, and those 
that employ Jewish phraseology- just as 
though the Jews are to rule the world and 
all other nations are to share the blessings 
of the kingdom by yielding them obedi- 
ence. Both of these conceptions can- 
not be Uterally true and it is important 
to discover which one is according to the 
mind of the Spirit. Let the prophets 
who declare the universahty of Christ's 
reign over all nations on equal terms 
speak first. 

"I saw in the night -\isions, and, 
behold, there came T^ith the clouds of 
heaven one like unto the Son of man, 
and he came even to the Ancient of Days, 
and they brought him near before him. 
And there was given him dominion, and 
glory, and a kingdom, that all the peo- 
ples, nations, and languages should serve 
him; his dominion is an everlasting 
dominion, which shall not pass away, and 
his kingdom that which shall not be 
destroyed." (Daniel 7 : 13, 14.) 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

"And the kingdom and the dominion, 
and the greatness of the kingdoms under 
the whole heaven, shall be given to the 
people of the saints of the Most High: 
his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, 
and all dominions shall serve and obey 
him." (Daniel 7:27.) 

"There is none like mito thee, O 
Jehovah; thou art great and thy name 
is great in might. Who should not fear 
thee, O Ejng of the nations.^ For to thee 
it appertaineth." (Jeremiah 10:6, 7.) 

This is the tenor of the prophecies 
which employ no Hebrew phraseology 
but which declare the sovereign authority 
of Christ over all nations. But since 
Israel was employed to set before the 
nations of the world an object lesson on 
matters relating to the kingdom, it is 
but natural that Hebrew terms should be 
employed to a large extent in the unfold- 
ing of the kingdom idea. With this 
thought in mind let us read some of the 
announcements concerning Christ's au- 
27 



COLLAPSE OF 

thority over the nations in which such 
phraseology' is employed. 

Seven hundred years before the event 
Isaiah made this proclamation: "Unto 
us a child is born, unto us a son is given; 
and the government shall be upon his 
shoulder; and his name shall be called 
Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, 
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of 
the increase of his government and of 
peace there shall be no end, upon the 
throne of Da\4d, and upon his king- 
dom, to establish it, and to uphold it 
with justice and with righteousness from 
henceforth even forever. The zeal of 
Jehovah of hosts will perform this." 
(Isa. 9:6, 7.) 

The prophet Zechariah made an 
announcement which both Matthew and 
John declare was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. 
It is in these words: "Rejoice greatly, 
daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter 
of Jerusalem. Behold, thy king cometh 
unto thee; he is just and having salva- 
28 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

tion; lowly, and riding upon an ass, even 
upon a colt the foal of an ass. And I will 
cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and 
the horse from Jerusalem; and the battle 
bow shall be cut off; and he shall speak 
peace unto the nations; and his dominion 
shall be from sea to sea, and from the 
River unto the ends of the earth." 
(Zechariah 9:9, 10.) 

It has already been stated that it is 
important that we discover whether it is 
the divine purpose merely to re-establish 
a Hebrew kingdom over which Christ is 
to reign, or whether all nations are to be 
admitted to the privileges of the king- 
dom on equal terms. The narrow con- 
ception is rendered impossible by the 
general terms employed even in con- 
nection with the Hebrew phraseology. 
The kingdom is to be world-wide, is to 
extend from sea to sea and from the 
River to the ends of the earth, is to 
embrace all nations. But when it is 
remembered that Israel was the kingdom 
29 



COLLAPSE OF 

in miniature, that miniature being a copy 
of the kingdom in its completeness, the 
true view becomes apparent. And this 
view is rendered still more certain when 
it is remembered that the verbally literal 
view cannot possibly be intended. A 
single passage of this class, taken from 
among many, will confirm this statement. 
It is too long to quote, but it is found in 
the nine closing chapters of the prophecy 
of Ezekiel. He foretells the return of the 
scattered tribes of Israel, the rebuilding 
of the temple and the city of Jerusalem, 
the redistribution of the land, and the 
restoration of the old order. But the 
new temple is to be as large as the entire 
city ever was; the city is to be as large 
as the whole land of Palestine; and yet 
the land is to be distributed among the 
twelve tribes after the necessary allot- 
ment to the priests and Levites. All 
this plainly indicates that the old barriers 
and boundaries are removed, that restored 
Israel is the redeemed world, that the 
SO 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

kingdom of Christ embraces all nations, 
and that all that is distinctively Jewish 
has waxed old and is reduced to the 
vanishing point. (Heb. 8:13.) 

In the light of the facts already pre- 
sented we can understand the Hebrew 
national songs, and they in turn throw 
additional light on the reign of Christ. 
They are not national songs in any nar- 
row sense, but are rather songs of the 
King and his kingdom. The twenty- 
second Psalm gives a description of the 
sufferings of Christ on the cross. This 
is followed by the announcement that as 
the result of his suffering all nations are 
to submit to him. "All ends of the 
earth shall remember and turn unto 
Jehovah; and all the kindreds of the 
nations shall worship before thee. For 
the kingdom is Jehovah's and he is the 
Ruler over the nations." (Psalm 22 : 27.) 

In another of these songs it is said, 
"He shall have dominion from sea to 
sea, and from the River unto the ends of 
31 



COLLAPSE OF 

the earth. They that dwell in the wilder- 
ness shall bow before him; and his ene- 
mies shall lick the dust. The kings of 
Tarshish and of the isles shall render 
tribute; the kings of Sheba and Seba 
shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall 
down before him; all nations shall serve 
him." (Psalm 72:8-11.) 

Again his complete conquest of the 
nations is described. "The Lord at thy 
right hand will strike through kings in the 
day of his wrath. He will judge among 
the nations. He will fill the places with 
dead bodies; he will strike through the 
head in many countries." (Psalm 110 :6.) 

Such is the trend of Old Testament 
thought concerning the authority of 
Christ over the nations. 

What is the prevalent kingdom idea of 
the New Testament? John the Baptist 
began his work by announcing that the 
kingdom was just at hand. The kingdom 
was the principal theme of the preaching 
of Jesus. It is the first note and also the 
82 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

last of the book of the Acts. It is the 
dominant thought of the Epistles. It is 
the Alpha and the Omega of the book of 
Revelation. Let us develop this con- 
ception of the New Testament with some 
degree of fullness. The four Gospels give 
the testimony of four witnesses to the 
fact that Jesus is the Christ foretold in 
the Old Testament. They do this by 
showing that he exactly fulfills all the 
prophecies relating to his person, his 
office and his work. Our concern now 
is with those which relate to his kingship. 
Matthew begins and ends his testimony 
by showing that Jesus is the promised 
King. Let no one be disturbed by the 
fact that men are often quoted as calling 
him "the King of the Jews," "the King 
of Israel," and that the superscription 
placed on his cross by Pilate was, "Jesus 
of Nazareth the King of the Jews." 
These expressions denote the narrow 
human conception of his dominion. He 
himself never placed any such limitations 



COLLAPSE OF 

on his realm. Let us listen to his own 
words. "All authority hath been given 
unto me in heaven and on earth." 
(Matthew 28:18.) This is Christ's final 
word concerning the extent of his domin- 
ion after three years of public teaching 
and miracle working. It includes both 
heaven and earth. Our chief concern 
now is with his authority over this planet. 
This final announcement is in harmony 
with all his former teachings as recorded 
by all the four Evangelists, He had 
declared that "This gospel of the king- 
dom shall be preached in the whole 
world for a testimony unto all nations." 
(Matthew 24 : 14.) This language implies 
that his authority extends over all the 
nations of the world. He had also 
announced that the Father had sent him 
into the world, not to judge the world but 
to save the world. (John 3:17.) The 
world which he came to save is the world 
of humanity, the Kosmos, the orderly 
arrangement of mankind in families and 
S4 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

nations. Most of the kingdom parables 
embody the same thought, as is evident 
from Christ's own interpretation of some 
of them in which he declares the field 
where his kingdom is established to be 
the world, all of which is to be trans- 
formed by the principles of righteousness. 

But it is everywhere set forth in Script- 
ure that there is opposition to Christ's 
rulership and that there is an age-long 
process required to bring the nations into 
subjection to the divine order. The exer- 
cise of the judicial function is thereby 
made necessary on the part of God, and 
this too has been delegated to Jesus 
Christ. "For neither doth the Father 
judge any man, but hath given all judg- 
ment unto the Son, that all may honor 
the Son even as they honor the Father." 
(John 5:22, 23.) "And he gave him 
authority to execute judgment, because 
he is the Son of man." (John 5:27.) 

With Christ's conception of his own 
kingly authority in mind it will not be 
35 



COLLAPSE OF 

difficult to obtain a proper \'iew of the 
kingdom teachings of the remainder of 
the Scriptures. That conception domi- 
nates the thought of all subsequent New 
Testament \\-ritings. Luke informs us 
that to his disciples Jesus "showed him- 
self alive after his passion by many 
proofs, appearing unto them by the 
space of forty days, and speaking of the 
things concerning the kingdom of God." 
(Acts 1:3.) Being thus instructed, they 
proclaimed the same doctrine. It may 
be worthy of note that while Jesus never 
mentioned the church except on two 
occasions, but had much to say about the 
kingdom, his disciples seldom mentioned 
the kingdom, but had much to sav about 
the church. For this, among other rea- 
sons, some regard the kingdom and the 
church as the same, the term kingdom 
presenting it as \-iewed by God from 
above and the term church describing it 
as \'iewed by men. This theon* has 
nothing to sustain or commend it. King- 
36 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

dom and church are not the same though 
they are closely related. The term king- 
dom is used in the Bible in two senses. 
Sometimes it means realm and some- 
times it means reign. The realm over 
which Christ reigns is the universe, but 
our chief concern is with this rebellious 
province called the world. The reign is 
the actual exercise of his authority, 
either in wrath or grace. The church is 
the chief instrumentality whereby wit- 
ness is borne to individuals and nations 
that Christ is King and that they should 
yield him obedience. It is the instru- 
mentality whereby reformatory move- 
ments on the part of citizens are brought 
into existence. The book of the Acts 
records the planting of the church, and 
the Epistles present the principles and 
methods, developed along the lines laid 
down in the gospels, whereby its work 
for the propagation of the truth con- 
cerning the kingdom is to be carried 
forward. 

37 



COLLAPSE OF 



The kingship of Jesus Christ is the key 
that unlocks all mysteries. The apostles 
used it to explain the crucifixion of Jesus 
Christ, and declared that in that \sicked 
deed in which Jews and Gentiles joined 
the Second Psalm had a fulfillment. 
(Acts 4:25-27.) Peter used it to explain 
the opening of the door of salvation to 
Gentile converts, declaring that "He is 
Lord of all." (Acts 10:36.) One of the 
accusations brought against Paul and his 
companions was that they said that 
besides Caesar "there is another king, 
one Jesus." (Acts 17:7.) The last word 
given us about Paul's work is that for 
two years in Rome he was "preaching 
the kingdom of God, and teaching the 
things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ." 
(Acts 28:31.) 

But what was Paul's doctrine of the 
kingdom and of the kingship of Jesus? 
We are not left in doubt. He declares 
that God put all things under his feet, 
and that he must reign till their subju- 
38 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

gallon is complete. (I Cor. 15:25-27.) 
Again he declares that God raised Christ 
from the dead, "'and made him sit at his 
right hand in the heavenly places, far 
above all rule and authority, and power 
and dominion, and every name that is 
named, not only in this world, but also 
in that which is to come: and he put all 
things in subjection under his feet." 
(Eph. 1:20-22.) In another place he 
declares that because Christ humbled 
himself and died on the cross "God 
highly exalted him, and gave imto him 
the name which is above every name, 
that in the name of Jesus every knee 
should bow, of things in heaven and 
things on earth and things under the 
earth, and that every tongue should 
confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the 
glory of God the Father." (Phil. 2:8-11.) 
When Paul wrote his epistle to the 
Colossians the seeds of the Gnostic heresy 
which vexed the church for ages had 
abeady begun to germinate. That heresy 
39 



COLLAPSE OF 

IS a vain attempt to bridge the chasm 
between God and the material universe, 
to solve the problem of evil, and to dis- 
close the method of deliverance from its 
power. The Gnostics held that evil is 
inherent in matter and that it could not 
therefore have been created by God. 
They filled the chasm between God and 
matter with imaginary emanations from 
God. The farther removed these emana- 
tions were from the divine source the 
weaker they became. One of the last 
and weakest they called the Demiurge, 
and upon him they laid the responsibility 
for the creation of matter. These sup- 
posed emanations filling up an imaginary 
chasm between God and the material 
universe they called the Pleroma. But 
Paul anticipated this heresy even in its 
most complete form. He showed that 
Christ is the solution of all these vexa- 
tious problems. "By him all things 
were created in the heavens and upon the 
earth, things visible and things invisible, 
40 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

whether thrones or dominions or princi- 
palities or powers; all things have been 
created through him and unto him; and 
he is before all things, and in him all 
things consist. And he is the head of 
the body, the church: who is the begin- 
ning, the firstborn from the dead; that 
in all things he might have the pre- 
eminence. For it pleased the Father 
that in him the whole Pleroma should 
dwell.'' (Col. 1:16-19.) Christ's au- 
thority over all things, nations as well as 
other beings, is the one universal solvent 
whereby all the mysteries that vex us are 
to be determined. 

Vse should be reasonably well prepared 
now for the examination of the book of 
Revelation, that we may discover its 
teachings concerning Christ's kingship. 
That book contains many things hard to 
be understood, but its testimony on this 
matter is remarkably clear and unmis- 
takable. Christ is introduced as "the 
Ruler of the kings of the earth." . (Rev. 
41 



COLLAPSE OF 

1:5.) "He Is Lord of lords and King of 
kings." (Rev. 17:14.) "He hath on his 
garment and on his thigh a name written, 
KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF 
LORDS." (Rev. 19 : 16.) In I Timothy 
6 : 15 this is mentioned as one of the titles 
the invisible God. But since all the 
Mediatorial authority of Christ is dele- 
gated by the Father it is evident that 
this dominion which belongs primarily 
to the Triune God is placed in the hands 
of Jesus Christ. 

In the body of the book of Revelation 
there is exhibited a series of dissolving 
views representing the age-long conflict 
which is to determine the rulership of 
this world. Satan appears as the leader 
of the hosts of darkness, who has usurped 
authority and claims dominion over all 
nations. (Luke 4:5-7). Christ stands 
forth as the rightful ruler and wages a 
warfare to dispossess the usurper. Inti- 
mation is given at various stages of the 
conflict as to the final result. At a 
42 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

certain important epoch great voices are 
heard in heaven announcing that "The 
kingdom of the world is become the king- 
dom of our Lord and of his Christ: and 
he shall reign for ever and ever." And 
then other voices say, "We give thee 
thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who 
art and who wast; because thou hast 
taken thy great powder, and didst reign." 
(Rev. 11:15-17.) In the closing scenes 
we are shown the complete overthrow of 
all anti-Christian systems, both ecclesias- 
tical and political. The Son of God 
rides forth with many crowns upon his 
head and leads the hosts of righteous- 
ness to complete victory. This achieve- 
ment is accompanied by the voice of a 
great multitude, "as the voice of many 
waters, and as the voice of mighty 
thunders, saying. Hallelujah: for the 
Lord our God, the Almighty, reigneth." 
(Rev. 19:6, 11-16.) 

Last of all we have a description of the 
New Jerusalem coming down from God 
43 



COLLAPSE OF 

out of heaven, the spreading forth of a 
new heaven and the establishing of a 
new earth. All this is a highly figurative 
announcement of the reformation of 
human society, the erection of civil 
government on the heavenly plan, and 
the establishment and acknowledgment 
cf Christ's authority over all. 

The trend of New Testament thought 
concerning the kingdom is therefore quite 
p'ain. The four gospels exhibit Jesus 
as the promised King. The Acts and 
the Epistles present the Church organ- 
ized, trained and equipped for the con- 
flict in support of his right to reign. 
The Book of Revelation presents a series 
of views of the conflict. The contending 
forces are the armies of Christ and of 
Satan. The issue to be decided is, Who 
shall wear the crown of dominion over 
the world? The result of the conflict is 
the submission of all nations to Jesus 
Christ. 



44 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

IV 

Implications 

The fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is 
the Ruler of nations is the one imperial 
thought thus far presented. The proofs 
advanced show that his enthronement is 
an accomplished fact, that he is now 
actually swaying his royal sceptre over 
this world, and that the nations are 
unwilling to receive and acknowledge him 
as their King. These proofs also show 
that Christ's rulership of the world fills 
a place of supreme importance in the 
purpose and plan of God relative to the 
human race. These facts manifestly 
imply that Christ as the Ruler of the 
world reckons with nations and their 
governments as well as with individuals. 

A further implication is that in the 

administration of the government of 

Christ nations are viewed as real entities, 

not mere imaginary or artificial beings. 

45 



COLLAPSE OF 

It is also implied that they possess moral 
character, that they have their existence 
in the sphere of Christ's moral govern- 
ment; that they are not controlled, 
like the winds, the tides, the heavenly 
bodies, by mere physical law, but are 
subjects of moral law; that moral forces 
operate in their development, and that 
their weal or woe depends upon their 
attitude toward Christ as King and the 
moral laws under which he has placed 
them. 

The fundamental idea here involved has 
often been expressed by saying that 
nations are moral beings or moral per- 
sons. It may not be wise or prudent to 
insist at all times upon the term moral 
person as a descriptive designation of a 
state or nation. But it is to be regretted 
that a certain type of mind seems unable 
to grasp the significance of the term or 
to perceive its fitness to express a most 
profound political principle. Without 
wasting words on the mere phraseolog;)^ 
46 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

best suited to designate the nation as a 
subject of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, 
let us proceed at once to inquire con- 
cerning the fact itself. Are the implica- 
tions already stated logically necessary 
and true? Does Christ deal with nations 
as real entities possessing moral char- 
acter, capable of receiving rewards and 
penalties? Or do we speak in figurative 
language when we so describe them? 
While it may be admitted that Christ is 
in some sense King of the world, is he 
after all King of nations in any sense 
that has a practical bearing? Is not 
the whole content of his kingship as far 
as men are concerned exhausted when 
it is declared that he is the lawful ruler 
of individuals? And are not all human 
obUgations toward him as King dis- 
charged when individuals submit to his 
authority? Is it not a waste of words to 
urge upon men the idea that he is King of 
nations and that they as nations are under 
some sort of an obUgation to him as King? 
47 



COLLAPSE OF 

Because of the prevalence of the ideas 
involved in these questions it is necessar}- 
to enter into an investigation that the 
facts may be disclosed. According to 
the view expressed above concerning the 
teachings of the Second Psalm, national 
weal or woe depends upon national 
attitude toward Jesus Christ. It is of 
supreme importance therefore that we 
find out whether that attitude which 
determines national destiny is anything 
more than the attitude of individuals, or 
whether it is the attitude of the nation 
viewed as a distinct entity, having moral 
character and owing duties to the 
Supreme Ruler. 

It is certainly clear to every fair- 
minded person that mere theorizing about 
this matter will never bring the truth to 
light. Nothing but facts should be per- 
mitted to influence our minds in seeking 
the right conclusion. And certainly no 
fair-minded person will undertake this 
investigation wdth a decision already 
48 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

formed and then seek to manipulate the 
facts in such a manner as to support that 
decision. There must be an honest, 
thorough, intelligent examination of all 
the facts bearing upon the point at issue, 
so that when the investigation is com- 
pleted we may know certainly whether 
nations are moral beings, existing within 
the sphere of Christ's moral govern- 
ment, under well-defined obligations to 
him as King, and whether they are 
rewarded or punishment according as 
they fulfill or fail to fulfill these 
obligations. 

There is a deep-seated conviction in 
the minds of men that such is the case. 
It is only when they enter the arena of 
debate, or when they are seeking to 
evade the logical, practical conclusions 
that certainly must follow the admission 
of the doctrine that nations are moral 
beings, that men venture its denial. 
Instinctively men everywhere think and 
speak of nations as real entities, possess- 
49 



COLLAPSE OF 

ing a moral character of their own. 
Instinctively they act upon this con- 
ception. There is an element of truth 
in the theory that civil government 
originates in a natural instinct. Cer- 
tainly we cannot say that men proceed 
to erect civil government just as the 
beaver builds his dam or as bees con- 
struct the honey comb. But it is just 
as natural for human beings to live in 
society and to construct civil govern- 
ments as it is for the lower animals to 
follow their native instincts. There is 
no such being as a man without a coun- 
try. In most people this attachment to 
country shows itself in patriotism. But 
patriotism is shown not by seeking to 
derive all possible personal benefits from 
the country, but by willingness to sacri- 
fice comforts, property or even life itself 
for the country's weKare. In time of 
personal danger we instinctively seek to 
preserve our lives. But when the life or 
wellbeing of the nation is imperiled we 
50 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

are willing to give up our own lives that 
the life of the nation may be preserved. 
If self-preservation is the first law of 
nature, the salvation of the nation is the 
first law of social humanity, and is 
higher and more imperious than the law 
of individual safety. 

But what is this being which we call 
that state or nation, which claims our 
devotion and the sacrifice of life itself? 
In spite of argument to the contrary men 
persist in regarding it as a moral entity, 
and their patriotism bears witness to 
this settled conviction. What is here 
insisted upon is that men shall act con- 
sistently with themselves and not seek 
to evade the practical conclusions that 
must flow from this conviction. If the 
state is something that may claim such 
devotion, it is surely something of which 
the Divine Ruler takes notice and with 
which he reckons in his moral govern- 
ment. If this is not so, a most important 
51 



COLLAPSE OF 

section of our lives lies outside the bound- 
aries of his kingdom. 

This conception of the state as a moral 
entity is an essential element in the most 
profound political philosophy. It is true 
that certain modern political writers deny 
that the state is a moral person or that it 
sustains any relation to moral law. 

One of our own American writers 
declares that "divine or moral sanctions 
have no application to political matters." 
Another says that "We must hold to the 
principle that the state can do no wrong." 
But even the advocates of this non-moral 
theory, while denying that the state is a 
moral person, strenuously maintain that 
it is a legal person, having an intelli- 
gence and a will of its own. It is diffi- 
cult for some of us at least even to imag- 
ine a being who is a person at all who is 
not a moral person. How can a state 
act within the sphere of law and not 
perform acts that are right or wrong .^ 
How is it possible for men endowed with a 
52 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

moral nature and having a moral stand- 
ard for the guidance of individual life 
to train themselves to the habit of not 
judging the acts of the state according 
to the same standard? But the best 
expounders of the philosophy of human 
society hold that nations are moral 
entities and as such are subjects of the 
moral government of God. If this were 
not so, if the non-moral theory mentioned 
above is to be accepted, what would 
follow? If Christ deals with men only 
as individuals, and if there is a sphere 
known as the political into which his 
moral law and government do not reach, 
e\4dently individuals while acting in that 
sphere are free from moral restraint. 
This is the theory on which many pro- 
ceed. This theory^ is productive of 
wide -spread immorality. It brings down 
upon nations the annihilating strokes of 
Christ's iron sceptre. 

Important evidence is furnished by the 
science of international law. In this 
53 



COLLAPSE OF 



department of thought and life individ- 
uals and their rights drop almost entirely 
out of sight. They are considered only 
as involved in the rights of the nation. 
National rights and consequent national 
obligations furnish the subject-matter 
which engages the attention of students 
of international law. These are the 
supreme interests to be considered by the 
representatives of various governments 
in treating with one another. This is 
well expressed in the following quota- 
tion from the works of Daniel Webster. 
In 1842, when he was Secretary of State, 
he wrote officially as follows: "Every 
nation, on being received, at her own 
request, into the circle of civilized govern- 
ments, must understand that she not 
only attains rights of sovereignty and the 
dignity of national character, but that 
she binds herself also to the strict and 
faithful observance of all those principles, 
laws and usages which have obtained 
currency among civilized states, and 
54 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

which have for their object the mitiga- 
tion of the miseries of war. 

"No community can be allowed to 
enjoy the benefit of national character 
in modern times, without submitting to 
all the duties which that character 
imposes. A Christian people, who exer- 
cise sovereign power, who make treaties, 
maintain diplomatic relations with other 
states, and who should yet refuse to con- 
duct their military operations according 
to the usages universally observed by 
such states, would present a character 
singularly inconsistent and anomalous." 
(Webster's Works, Vol. VI, pp. 437, 
438.) 

But if a state is not a moral being how 
can it have rights and owe duties to 
other states .f^ If it is difficult to con- 
struct a science of civil government pos- 
sessed of any value apart from the prin- 
ciple that the state is a moral being the 
difficulty becomes an absolute impossi- 
bility when we try to construct a science 
5S 



COLLAPSE OF 

of international law. It was in connec- 
tion w4th the development of this science 
that the term moral person as applied 
to the state first came into use. In his 
" History of European Diplomacy," Da\dd 
Jayne Hill says that "it had long been 
the custom to treat kingdoms and prin- 
cipalities as personal possessions of the 
ruling prince and as a legitimate field of 
conquest by those who were at war with 
him. But in the sixteenth century a new 
conception of the State developed. That 
new conception consisted essentially of 
the principles that the State is an organ- 
ism, a moral entity, possessed of moral 
qualities." (Vol. II, p. 517.) This new 
conception developed just when inter- 
national law was becoming a real science. 
John Bassett Moore, in his masterly 
work on international law consisting of 
eight volumes and published by authority 
of the government of the United States, 
informs us that "Pufendorf propounded 
the idea which has been so generally 
56 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

adopted, of treating the state as a moral 
person, endowed with a collective will." 
(Vol. I, p. 14.) Pnfendorf, it is true, 
belonged to the seventeenth century, but 
Hugo Grotius, his great predecessor, who 
was born in 1583, treated the state as a 
moral being having rights and owing 
duties to other states, although he does 
not use the term moral person. From 
that time down to the present it has been 
the general practice of writers on inter- 
national law thus to conceive of the 
state. "Moral character manifested in 
a proper regard for the rights of other 
nations is considered a necessary condi- 
tion for admission into the family of 
nations." (Wilson and Tucker's "Inter- 
national Law," 5th ed., pp. 45, 46.) 
Wheaton's "International Law," the fifth 
EngUsh edition of which has been issued 
since the outbreak of the great world 
war, declares that "Every state has cer- 
tain sovereign rights, to which it is 
entitled as an independent moral being; 
57 



COLLAPSE OF 



in other words, because it is a state." 
(Part Second, Chapter I, p. 87.) 

It is evident, therefore, that states 
appear in history as real moral beings, 
that they have rights and owe duties, and 
that they treat one another on the basis 
of these recognized facts. It is impossi- 
ble for nations to have any dealings with 
one another except on this basis. Is it 
possible that the Divine Ruler of nations 
ignores all this in his dealings with men? 
Christ's administration of the divine 
kingdom cannot be understood if these 
facts are not duly considered. No mere 
dealing with individuals could reach all 
the deeds done by nations. And no 
attempted explanation of divine provi- 
dence which ignores Christ's dealings 
with nations as such comes within a 
thousand leagues of unfolding some of the 
most important events in human history. 

The authority which a state exercises, 
usually known as political sovereignty, 
shows most conclusively that the state 
58 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

must be a moral being and is a subject of 
the moral government of Jesus Christ. 
That the state does actually claim and 
wield supreme authority over property 
and life needs no proof. It either has or 
it has not the right to this authority. 
If the claim is wrong, if no state has the 
right to make it, it is a most outrageous 
usurpation of a divine prerogative. How 
can the Divine Ruler overlook such 
usurpation.^ Kings and kaisers who 
claim to rule by divine right are usurpers. 
They are doubly criminal. They rob 
both God and man. The claim of 
sovereignty for the individual is also 
usurpation. If poHtical sovereignty 
belongs anywhere it belongs to the peo- 
ple viewed as a state. This is the true 
doctrine of democracy. Every demo- 
cratic state makes this claim for itself. 
Does it thereby invade without warrant 
the realm which God has reserved for him- 
self ? And if it does, will not the Divine 
Ruler avenge himself on every such state? 
59 



COLLAPSE OF 

But all right-minded people without 
exception believe that states have the 
right to wield the tremendous authority 
called sovereignty. Without raising at 
this point the question of its origin, must 
not the Divine Ruler hold them account- 
able, whatever may be the origin? Is 
it possible that there are within the 
realm over which God reigns by Jesus 
Christ these great national powers rightly 
claiming and exercising supreme control 
over property and life, and yet not 
accountable to that Divine Ruler? Such 
an idea is too absurd to require refutation. 
No one can believe in a God at all and 
hold to such a theory. Even the heathen 
knew better than to hold such views. 
Horace declares that "Powerful sover- 
eigns reign over their own subjects, and 
the Supreme Being over sovereigns 
themselves.'* 

WTien the true origin and location of 
political sovereignty are considered and 
given due weight, the evidence that 
60 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

nations are moral beings and are subject 
to the government of Jesus Christ is seen 
to be overwhelming. According to the 
Constitution of the United States, the 
people are sovereign. They ordain and 
establish the Constitution. This is the 
first principle of democracy. It requires 
no argument to convince American citi- 
zens that this is as it should be. To 
make the world safe for democracy is one 
of the great purposes of the war with 
Germany and her allies. In fighting for 
this principle we are fighting for our 
country. But in what sense are the peo- 
ple sovereign? There is a superficial and 
generally vague idea that the people 
are sovereign as individuals, and that the 
individual can take his share of our politi- 
cal sovereignty and do with it as he 
pleases. But he does not proceed very 
far along this path until he is checked 
by the ofiicials of the state. Not even 
communities, cities or any other fraction 
of a state has the right to wield supreme 
61 



COLLAPSE OF 



political authority. \Miere then does 
sovereignty reside? In the body of the 
people ^"iewed as a unit. As detached 
individuals we have no sovereignty- at 
all. On this point all the writers on 
pohtical science are agreed. Sovereignty 
is in divisible. It is vested in the state 
-viewed as a great mora] entity. 

But how did the state come to be 
invested with this tremendous authority? 
The old theoiy. known as the Social 
Compact theoiy-. which held that it 
originates in the surrender by each one of 
a portion of his natural rights, has been 
discarded. There is no need now to give 
it any consideration. 

The prevalent theory today is that 
this sovereign authority- of the state is 
the product of evolution. It may read- 
ily be granted that evolution has wrought 
wonders in the life of states. It has 
brought into existence the great world 
powers of this modem era, but it did not 
create political sovereignty. Those civil 
G2 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

powers that existed in the dawn of 
civiHzation, and which modern states- 
men do not deign to call states, were as 
truly sovereign as are the most highly 
developed powers of today. 

The only satisfactory answer to the 
question as to the origin of this author- 
ity is that it is delegated by God. This 
is the second principle of democracy. 
We are told by very high authority 
that God made man in his own image, 
male and female made he them, and 
gave them dominion. (Genesis 1:28.) 
"There is no power but of God; and the 
powers that be are ordained of God." 
(Romans 13:1.) In the light of these 
facts, how is it possible for any intelli- 
gent being to think of nations as existing 
outside the realm of Christ's government? 

It may seem unnecessary to produce 
additional proof of a proposition already 
well sustained by argument. But the 
mass of men have not yet been moved to 
action in harmony with this proposition. 
63 



COLLAPSE OP 
it » 



toOr 



Let w 
tfelKMlatGod 



aadhject to Gof s 




lAT 'At V 



fc 



iTJ: 



*; « 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

they do that which is evil in my sight, 
that they obey not my voice, then I will 
repent of the good, wherewith I said I 
would benefit them." (Jer. 18:7-10.) 
In accordance with the principle under- 
lying these prophetic proclamations, the 
sentence of judgment goes forth against 
sinful nations, and their civilizations, 
which have been built up by centuries 
of effort, are dissolved into dust and 
ashes. Isaiah announced the "burden" 
of Babylon, of Egypt, of Tyre, and of all 
the nations that opposed the kingdom of 
God, and their civilizations crumbled 
because they repented not. The names 
of modern nations may be written into 
those ancient prophecies, and unless they 
submit to the reign of Christ their doom 
may be read in the dust of buried cities 
where the wild goats dance and in the 
stones of ruined palaces which have 
become the habitation of wolves and 
jackals. (Isa. 13:21.) 



65 



COLLAPSE OF 



National Sin 



To persuade the multitudes of right- 
hearted people that evils of a gigantic 
nature exist and that these evils imperil 
any state in which they are permitted to 
prevail unchecked, is not a difficult task. 
It is difficult, however, to con\4nce them 
that there is one specific evil which is the 
root of all the evils by which the nations 
of the world are cursed. That funda- 
mental evil is national Godlessness. It 
is impossible to cure our manifold ills 
so long as this fundamental, organic, 
constitutional evil remains. 

There is no conscious purpose on the 
part of the writer to minimize any one of 
the specific evils which are so widely 
deplored and for which many are seeking 
a remedy. Our sole aim is to get before 
the minds of the people a correct diagnosis 
of the case, that they may know the real 
66 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

cause of the world's miseries and, knowing 
this, to know the remedy and how it 
should be applied. 

Let the most prominent and damning 
of national sins be passed in review, that 
our contention may be made clear and 
become firmly established. Of all these 
national ills, none has received quite as 
much attention as the liquor traffic and 
its attendant evils. This traffic has been 
so frequently arraigned at the bar of 
public opinion and has been so generally 
found guilty of all the crimes forbidden 
by the moral law that it is not necessary 
to go through the process again. It is 
now simply awaiting the day of execu- 
tion when as a legalized business it will 
pass out of existence. It is the curse 
that has doomed many a nation in the 
past. It is one of the sins which God 
means to destroy by the great war and 
by the voice of the people exercising 
their sovereign right with reference to 
the suppression of such wrongs. But 
67 



COLLAPSE OF 

this evil is the natural offspring of national 
Godlessness. How could a Godly nation 
legalize a traffic that breaks every pre- 
cept that God has ordained and destroys 
human souls on which the image of God 
was portrayed? 

Sabbath desecration is a national evil 
of stupendous proportions and is claiming 
our attention because of its damaging 
effects upon public morals and because 
it imperils the very existence of the 
nation. While nearly every civilized 
country and nearly every state in the 
American Union has its Sabbath law, 
the most of these laws are w^oefully 
defective because of their numerous 
exceptions to the application of their 
prohibitions. While works that can be 
shown to be works of necessity or mercy 
should be excepted, and while no one 
should be required by law to perform 
acts of religious worship, all secular activ- 
ities that can be arrested during the 
weekly rest day, even though there may 
68 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

seem to be a diminution of financial 
returns, should be brought under the 
operation of the law. Especially should 
the law forbid on that day the various 
forms of public amusement which are 
directly responsible for much of our 
national irreligion and immorality. More 
especially still should the national govern- 
ment itseK set an example of Sabbath 
keeping by ceasing all activities on the 
first day of the week in its various depart- 
ments except such as are absolutely 
necessary. The standard of action should 
be, not public convenience, not the opin- 
ions or prejudices of Godless citizens, but 
the moral law as revealed in nature, his- 
tory and the written Word. All these 
sources of knowledge unite in proclaiming 
the need of a weekly day of rest, and by 
the almost unanimous consent of Chris- 
tian people that day, by divine appoint- 
ment, is the first day of the week. There 
is a close connection between Sabbath 
keeping and public morality. It fur- 
69 



COLLAPSE OF 

nishes the chief opportunity for moral 
training. Its desecration means moral 
bankruptcy. Free government cannot 
be maintained if the people are morally 
depraved. Nations have perished 
because they lost respect for the day of 
sacred rest. Godlessness, however, has 
been the primary cause. 

Deflections from the true standard of 
family life are among the most disastrous 
of all the ills that afflict the human race. 
So long as the relation of the sexes is 
maintained at a high moral level there 
is little danger of a nation losing its 
virility. But if the stream of life is 
poisoned at its source there is no power 
that can prevent national decadence 
until that fountain head is cleansed. 
Besides some of the common forms of 
vice which will be suggested to the mind 
of each one, the most common mani- 
festation of this damning sin is laxity 
in the legal regulations of the marriage 
relation. In the last special report on 
70 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

marriage and divorce prepared by author- 
ity of the government of the United 
States it is shown that there is a marked 
increase in the number of divorces granted 
from year to year as compared with the 
population. This increase is exhibited to 
the eye by a series of maps, and the 
report adds: "Divorce is thus repre- 
sented in these maps as if it were a dark 
cloud gradually gathering over the coun- 
try." (Part I, p. 16.) One of the 
lamentable features of the situation is 
the fact that in the aggregate we have 
about twenty-five causes for divorce 
recognized by law, and that even in 
states where the law is somewhat strict 
the courts are lax in its interpretation. 

One of the most astounding features of 
our civilization is the existence of a sect 
calling itseK " The Church of Jesus Christ 
of Latter Day Saints," one of whose 
fundamental behefs is the divine right of 
polygamy. This organization, to which 
the name "Mormon" is generally given, 
71 



COLLAPSE OF 



claims to be the veritable kingdom of 
God, and is governed by a priestly 
hierarchy which claims to rule by di\Tne 
right. It is even claimed that this 
hierarchy is destined to supersede all 
civil governments. TMiile the laws of 
all the states of the L'nion forbid polyg- 
amy, the practice has not been abandoned 
by the deluded advocates of this system. 
To our shame it must be added that in a 
number of the western states it is con- 
nived at by public officials as well as by 
politicians generally. Courts of law are 
often subser\'ient to the dictates of this 
Mormon hierarchy. The extent of the 
havoc thus \vTought upon public morals is 
truly alarming. 

If the histor}^ of the nations of the past 
throws any light upon the destiny of 
other nations, the conclusion cannot be 
avoided that destruction awaits any 
nation that fails to guard the sanctity 
of the home and the purity of the family 
relation. The prophets of this sham 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

religion, together with the advocates of a 
larger liberty in the dissolution of the 
marriage tie, are conducting the nation 
along the highway that leads to destruc- 
tion. One of the alarming conditions 
resulting from the slaughter of milUons 
of men by the great war is the almost 
world-wide disregard of the divine law 
regulating the relation of the sexes. 
After the Thirty Years War polygamy 
was legalized by certain European govern- 
ments to replenish the depopulated coun- 
tries. A situation even worse than 
legalized polygamy, if such a situation 
is possible, is already known to exist 
under the tacit approval of the German 
government and with the sanction of 
many individuals in other countries. 
For the sake of humanity, if for no other 
or higher reason, there must be made a 
vigorous, united, uncompromising pro- 
test against all such crimes. Nations 
have perished because of these damning 
vices in the past, and there is no way 
73 



COLLAPSE OF 

for the guilty to escape the righteous 
judgments of God. Like all other na- 
tional evils, this evil is the fruit of 
national Godlessness. 

WTiile"national sins are many, there is 
one national sin from which they all 
spring, and that sin is forgetfulness of 
God. It is true that almost every nation 
has a form of Godliness, but the most 
thorough scrutiny of their organic laws 
and governmental policies will fail to 
discover the presence of those principles 
which have to do with the relation of 
civil government to God. There is even 
an implicit denial of that relationship in 
the common doctrine of political sover- 
eignty and in the manner of its exercise. 
In their pride and loftiness it is common 
for nations to ignore all moral restraint, 
practically repudiate the reign of God in 
the political realm, and exalt themselves 
to a place among the gods by the usurpa- 
tion of divine prerogatives. 

The indictment of the prophet Isaiah 
74 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

against Babylon may be brought without 
any modification against some of the 
nations of the present day. "Thou 
saidst in thy heart, I will ascend into 
heaven, I will exalt my throne above the 
stars of God; and I will sit upon the 
mount of the congregation, in the utter- 
most parts of the north; I will ascend 
above the heights of the clouds; I will 
make myself like the Most High. Yet 
thou shalt be brought down to Sheol, 
to the uttermost part of the pit." (Isa. 
14:13-15.) Let it not be supposed that 
these words may be applied to Germany 
alone. 



75 



COLLAPSE OF 



VI 



Christ's Ad^hxistration 



It is diflBcult to see how any unbiased 
mind can deny the main proposition of 
the preceding discussion, namely, that 
Jesus Christ is the Ruler of nations. It 
is equally difficult to see how the impli- 
cations of this proposition can be denied, 
namely, that nations are real moral 
beings, ha\'ing a character of their own, 
and that as such they are subjects of 
Christ's government. But we are now 
confronted with the problem of Christ's 
administration of the government of the 
world. Has he entered upon that admin- 
istration yet, or is it an event yet future.^ 
Two questions here arise : the first relates 
to the fact of Christ's administration, the 
second to the manner of it. 

There is a class of good people, loyal 
to their dixTne King, zealous for his 
honor, who hold that while Christ is 

7a 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

truly the rightful ruler of this world he 
has not yet begun to reign. Since he is 
the Prince of Peace they cannot be con- 
vinced that he reigns over a world so 
completely ravaged by war. Not only 
war but a vast multitude of other evils 
fill the world with misery and sorrow, and 
they conclude that the reign of Christ 
has been indefinitely postponed. But 
if Christ is not administering the govern- 
ment of the world, who is? Surely it is 
not left without a supreme ruler. No 
diflBculty is escaped by saying that the 
Supreme Deity is the administrator. It 
is no more difiScult to explain the exist- 
ence of evil in the world in harmony 
with the reign of Christ than it is to 
explain it in harmony with the reign of 
God. 

A certain class of irreverent skeptics 
make merry over what they claim to be 
the failure of the gods to rule the world 
successfully, and declare that it is time 
to take it out of their hands and commit 
77 



COLLAPSE OF 



it to the hands of men. This means 
that we should banish the idea of a 
Supreme Ruler together with all religious 
conceptions from our lives and carrv^ on 
all human affairs in the light of human 
wisdom alone. But one of the charges 
brought against the nations and their 
rulers in the Second Psalm is that this is 
the very thing they have been try^ing to 
do and that this is the source of all the 
trouble. 

It should be observed that the proofs 
which establish Christ's right to the 
dominion of this world also show that he 
has already entered upon the adminis- 
tration of his kingdom. The tenses of 
the verbs used to tell us of his exaltation 
leave no room to doubt this fact. He 
HATH put all things under him. But 
these declarations are also accompanied 
by others equally clear which tell us that 
all things are not yet subdued under him. 
This does not mean that nothing is sub- 
dued, but only that some things are not, 
78 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

I 

and he must reign till the conquest is 
complete. (I Cor. 15:25-27.) 

In the interest of clear thinking let us 
attend to certain important distinctions. 
The term kingdom, as already stated, 
may denote either a realm or a reign. 
It is used in both senses in the Scriptures. 
The realm over which Christ reigns is the 
universe. "He is Lord of all." This 
world is a province in his kingdom, but it 
is a rebellious province. If any object 
to the word rebellious we may substi- 
tute the statement that the world is not 
in right relation to Christ the reigning 
king. There are two parts of the king- 
dom of Christ, one of which is in loyal 
subjection to him and the other is not. 

While the world in general has failed 
to adjust its relations with the Supreme 
Ruler in accordance with the principles 
of his government, some individuals and 
some institutions are loyal to him in a 
commendable degree. 

On a preceding page two aspects of 
79 



COLLAPSE OF 



Christ's exercise of authority were briefly 
mentioned which must now be more fully 
considered. These may be designated 
the dispensation of judgment or T\Tath 
and the dispensation of grace. A proper 
regard for this distinction will deliver us 
from much confusion and error. It is 
the first of these that gives trouble to 
certain minds because they have only a 
partial and therefore an erroneous con- 
ception of Christ's authority. Strange 
though it may seem to be, men hold 
thoroughly antagonistic views on this 
matter. Some are wishing for the "day 
of the Lord " when he will visit the wicked 
with overwhelming destruction, while 
others deny that such a day has any place 
in Christ's programme. There is an 
apparent discrepancy even in the utter- 
ances of Christ himself concerning this 
matter. At one time he said that " God 
sent not the Son into the world to judge 
the world; but that the world should be 
saved through him." (John 3:17.) At 
80 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

another he declared, "For judgment 
came I into the world." (John 9:39.) 
At one time he said, "I came not to 
judge the world, but to save the world." 
(John 12:47.) Again he said, "Now is 
the judgment of this world: now shall 
the prince of this world be cast out." 
(John 12:31.) The correct interpre- 
tation of these utterances will throw a 
flood of light on Christ's administration 
of the divine government of the world. 
The first of the quotations given above 
is taken from the account of the inter- 
view of Nicodemus with Jesus. Nico- 
demus may be taken as the type of that 
class who desire the day of the Lord when 
he will visit wicked men and nations 
with overwhelming judgments. Like the 
great body of Jews of his day, he regarded 
the Jews as the kingdom of God in a 
peculiar and even an exclusive sense. 
He had no doubt about his own place in 
that kingdom. Like other Jews, he 
expected a Messiah who would pour out 
81 



COLLAPSE OF 

judgments upon all other nations and 
exalt the Jews to a place of supreme 
power and glory. He wished to know 
whether Jesus was the long looked-for 
Messiah and whether he had come on 
this mission. With this desire upper- 
most in his mind he sought an interview 
with Jesus. He began by compliment- 
ing Jesus as a great teacher and miracle 
worker. Jesus ignored the compliment 
and answered the ruler's question before 
he asked it. "Verily, verily I say unto 
thee, except one be born anew he can- 
not see the kingdom of God." By these 
words he informs this Jew that he is not 
yet in the kingdom and the only way 
in is by the new birth. "God so loved 
the world that he gave his only begotten 
Son, that whosoever believeth on him 
should not perish, but have eternal life." 
By these words he informs him that even 
the believing Gentile may enter the 
kingdom by the same door. "God sent 
not the Son into the world to judge the 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

world, but that the world should be 
saved through him." By these words he 
declares that the special and primary 
mission of Christ is not a mission of 
judgment, as the Jews expected it to be, 
but a mission of mercy and salvation; 
first, a mission of salvation for all indi- 
vidual believers, whether Jew or Gen- 
tile (John 3:16); second, a mission of 
salvation for the world of mankind, for 
human society with its divine institutions, 
the family and the state. (John 3:17.) 

In perfect harmony with this part of 
Christ's mission is the other part denoted 
by the term judgment. How can judg- 
ment be dispensed with in a world 
where both individuals and nations 
refuse to receive him as their Saviour? 
Having finished his saving work, there- 
fore, and having commissioned his ambas- 
sadors to go and proclaim the message of 
salvation for men and for the world, 
his work of judgment upon the world at 
once began. Hence he could say at the 
83 



COLLAPSE OF 



close of his public ministry, "Now is the 
judgment of this world; now shall the 
prince of this world be cast out." Those 
who find fault with this part of the 
divine programme should consider how 
essential it is for the accomplishment of 
the divine purpose, and how large a 
place it fills in the divine plan. It is 
Christ's province to decide judicially all 
the disputes between nations and to 
award them their just deserts. "He will 
judge between the nations, and will 
decide concerning many peoples; and 
they shall beat their swords into plow- 
shares, and their spears into pruning- 
hooks; nation shall not lift up sword 
against nation, neither shall they learn 
war any more." (Isaiah 2:4.) This 
text plainly teaches that nations engage 
in war with one another because of their 
imrighteousness, and that when they 
submit to Christ's arbitration of their 
disputes they will find no more use for 
implements of war. But the road to 
84 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

peace is a long one and the judgments of 
Christ are necessary to bring it about. 
And those judgments must be accom- 
panied by the infliction of the penalty 
upon the Godless. "The history of the 
world is the judgment of the world." 
Christ himself declared that he came, 
"not to send peace but a sword." (Mat- 
thew 10:34.) Certain forms of evil can- 
not be cast out even by prayer and 
fasting. Force is necessary. 

It is declared concerning this feature of 
Christ's reign that it compels his ene- 
mies to lick the dust. (Psalm 72:9.) 
Of this king it is written: "The Lord at 
thy right hand shall strike through 
kings in the day of his wrath. He will 
judge among the nations, he will fill the 
places with dead bodies; he will strike 
through the head in many countries." 
(Psalm 110:5, 6.) Daniel's interpreta- 
tion of Nebuchadnezzar's dream brings 
out the fact of Christ's exercise of judg- 
ment in the destruction of the nations of 



COLLAPSE OF 

the world. In his dream the king saw a 
great image with a head of gold, breasts 
and arms of silver, belly and thighs of 
brass, legs of iron, and feet part of iron 
and part of clay. These different parts 
and elements represented the different 
successive world empires and the sepa- 
rate nations into which the last, the 
Roman empire, was divided. A little 
stone, representing the kingdom of Jesus 
Christ, smites the image on its feet and 
reduces it to powder. (Daniel 2:31-45.) 
Turning to the New Testament we find 
that the book of Revelation represents 
Christ on the throne, administering the 
divine kingdom, directing in the pouring 
out of divine wrath upon all associa- 
tions of men ecclesiastical and political 
which refuse to submit to his reign. 

The gracious aspect of the reign of 
Christ is that which we most desire and 
for which we labor and pray. But the 
two are very closely connected. In 
truth there is a dispensation of grace in 
86 






CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

connection with the dispensation of 
wrath, and though when we pray we 
may specially desire nothing but the 
tokens of mercy God may answer by 
terrible things in righteousness. (Psalm 
65:5.) The destruction of Egypt was a 
dispensation of wrath toward the Egyp- 
tians but it was of the nature of grace 
toward Israel. The destruction of any 
tyrannical government may be brought 
about by fearful judgments, but it is a 
matter of grace to those who are thereby 
delivered from oppression. Moreover, 
both individuals and nations may be 
turned to God by Christ's judicial dis- 
pensations. "When thy judgments are 
in the earth, the inhabitants of the world 
learn righteousness." (Isaiah 26:9.) 
Grace reigns in the highest degree, how- 
ever, wherever the gospel takes hold of 
human hearts and lives and transforms 
them; wherever human society is ele- 
vated to a higher spiritual level; where- 
ever civil governments are in any degree 
87 



COLLAPSE OF 

brought into harmony with the wdll of 
Christ. Only when men and nations are 
so far transformed that they will make 
the laws of heaven the rule of life on 
earth will this aspect of the reign of 
Christ be fully inaugurated. 



I 



88 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

vn 

Historical Confirmation 

If the positions here maintained are 
true it is reasonable to expect con- 
firmation of them in the world's history. 
It is with the utmost confidence that we 
turn the pages of the history of past 
ages, for the events there recorded afford 
unmistakable evidence that nations are 
subjects of the moral government of the 
Divine Ruler; that they prosper if they 
are righteous, that they perish if they 
refuse allegiance to him. Emphasis must 
here be laid upon certain facts which 
often escape the notice of historians. A 
beginning will be made, however, with 
one outstanding fact which none can 
overlook and about which there can be 
no dispute. That fact is that nations 
perish. They have their day and cease 
to be. History consists largely in the 
account of the rise, development, pros- 

89 



COLLAPSE OF 

perity, decline and fall of nations. TMth 
them have likewise perished civiliza- 
tions of no mean order. Archseolog}' is 
unfolding before our astonished eyes the 
wonderful achievements of nations thous- 
ands of years before the birth of Christ. 
At least four thousand years before 
Christ came into the world the human 
family had attained a high degree of 
ci\'ilization. Art and science flourished. 
Men of letters were no less renowned than 
men of war. 

The problem which now presents itself 
for solution is, TNliy do nations perish.'* 
It is no answer to say that the weak are 
overcome and swallowed up by the 
strong, because the mightiest of the great 
empires of the past have lost their might 
and finally have been brought down "to 
the uttermost parts of the pit." If our 
problem demanded an answer to the 
question, ^Miy do weak nations perish.^ 
or Why are the weak swallowed up by 
the strong.^ no special difficulty would 
90 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

be experienced in stating the answer. 
But we must go deeper and discover the 
cause of the decadence of nations the 
most powerful and the overthrow of 
civilizations the most advanced in all 
things material. 

There was a time when thinkers of 
repute held that national life is subject 
to the same laws that prevail in the 
vegetable and animal worlds. They 
begin to be, they grow, they flourish for 
a season, they decay and die, and all 
this according to a fixed law of their 
being. But no thinker of any standing 
today holds to this theory. It is now 
well understood that the nation has 
within itself the fountain of perpetual 
youth. That fountain is the family. If 
both fountain and stream are kept 
pure there is no reason why a nation 
may not live while the sun and moon 
endure. 

It is a common belief that intelligence 
is the one infallible safeguard of national 
91 



COLLAPSE OF 

wellbeing. This conception is wrought 
out at great length by Buckle in his 
"Histon^ of Civilization." But many 
of the great nations of the past went 
down when at the height of their intel- 
lectual renown. ^'^ 

Nor can it be maintained that mere 
material progress, the accumulation of 
wealth, the equitable distribution of the 
proceeds of labor, will of themselves 
safeguard a nation against hostile forces. 
Neither will battleships, fortifications, 
artillen' and a mighty host of armed 
men, of themselves give stability and 
perpetuity. Material things have their 
proper place in the equipment of nations 
for their mission, but there is need of a 
spiritual force as a guarantee that the 
material prosperity may not become the 
cause of national do^iifall. 

It has been said that one chief cause 
of the decay of the Republic of Rome 
was the decline of the national spirit. 
Men of wealth ceased to take an Inter- 
sil 






CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

est in the affairs of the commonwealth. 
But what is the national spirit? This 
question pierces even to the dividing 
asunder of the very joints and marrow 
of national life. We must discover what 
is the chief of all the forces that combine 
men into nations and that operate to 
maintain such a union. The consensus 
of expert opinion is that that force is 
religion. "Looking simply at the matter 
of fact, and without any question about 
its bearing, we find that nations and 
governments and religions have every- 
where a connection not only most inti- 
mate, but one which has thus far shown 
itself indissoluble. This connection is 
no more, and no less, apparent in the 
earliest than in the latest periods of 
history. It is the most prominent his- 
toric fact of all time." (Pres. Julius H. 
Seeley.) "Christianity is essentially a 
political principle, and a political power. 
It is constructive of the state, and bears 
in itself the power of forming the state, 
93 



COLLAPSE OP 



and of developing it to it5 full com- 
pleteness/' i^Rotiie."* 

If religion is tlie cliief force In the 
erection of states, the decay of religion 
is tlie chief cause of their dowTifall. In 
a general way this sentiment is a part of 
the poHtical creed of the vast majority 
of intelligent citizens. It finds expres- 
sion in many ways. In the Ordmance 
of Government enacted in 17 ST it is 
stated in these words: "Religion, moral- 
ity and knowledge, being essential to 
good government and the happiness of 
mankind, etc." The National Security 
League, in answering the question **How 
shall America prepare for its gigantic 
task?" says, *' First, we must cultivate 
as never before, our belief in a DiWne 
Providence, which is not our * uncon- 
ditional ally.' but which requires us to 
know right from x^Tong, good from e\'il." 

Doubtless such expressions will be 
ditTerently understood and differently 
\'iewed by different persons. Some may 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

impatiently reject them as unworthy of 
serious thought. Some may take alarm, 
thinking that their acceptance would 
bring back the days of union of church 
and state, the Inquisition and the death 
penalty for heresy. Some will accept 
them in a broad and general way with- 
out thinking them through to discover 
their depth of meaning. A few may 
happily grasp their full significance and 
their absolute necessity for the stability 
and prosperity of a nation. To turn 
this small number of the elect into the 
majority is a task worthy the eflForts of 
the finest talent in the land. There is 
something here involved that has never 
yet been seen or attempted by any 
people. 

To unfold this thought that the nation 
needs religion and the morality that 
must accompany it, let us do some 
thinking along historical lines. 

It is the testimony of history that 
national calamities are divine judgments 
95 



COLLAPSE OF 

for national sins. Most of our great 
historians unconsciously bear witness to 
this fact. They tell of the development 
of nations, their increase in wealth and 
power, the working of the leaven of 
political corruption and crime, followed 
by inevitable destruction. \Mien weak- 
ened by internal corruption they become 
an easy prey to the newer powers that 
have not lost their virility. Byron in 
*'Childe Harold" gives expression to 
this law of decay in the following words: 

"There is the moral of all human tales; 
'Tis but the same rehearsal of the past; 
First freedom, and then glory — when that fails. 
Wealth, vice, corruption, barbarism at last." 

The name of any nation of the past 
might be substituted for Nineveh in the 
solemn announcement of the prophet 
Nahum: "And Jehovah hath given com- 
mandment concerning thee, that no more 
of thy name be sown: out of the house 
of thy gods will I cut off the graven 
image and the molten image ; I will make 
06 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

thy grave, for thou art vile." As the 
prophet Isaiah was conunissioned to 
announce "the burden of Moab," "the 
burden of Damascus," "the burden of 
Tyre," the burden, in fact, of all the 
nations that in those days opposed the 
cause of God; as the prophet Amos was 
commissioned to proclaim the downfall 
of all existing nations, not excluding 
Israel, because of their national sins; so 
their successors in these last days are 
commissioned to warn existing nations 
that unless they repent they shall all 
likewise perish. 

One or two illustrations taken from the 
great mass furnished by history will 
establish our contention. The essential 
facts concerning the city of Carthage 
and the Carthaginian empire are well 
known to all students of history. Carth- 
age was undoubtedly the richest city of 
antiquity. It antedates the city of 
Rome by a hundred years. It was 
founded by Phoenicians from Tyre. In 
97 



COLLAPSE OF 

the course of time the Carthaginians 
carved out an extensive empire with the 
sword. The religion of the people was 
the same as that of Tyre and Sidon. 
The principal gods were Baal -Moloch, 
and Tanith or Astarte. The first was 
the fire god, rejoicing in human sacri- 
fices and in parents' tears. The second 
required and even consecrated immoral- 
ity on the part of her worshippers. 
These were the abominations for which 
the inhabitants of Canaan were to be 
cast out, and the sentence of con- 
demnation extended even to Carthage 
on account of the perpetuation of these 
evils by the Carthaginians. Sladen says 
that Carthage should have imposed her 
culture upon the world, that she should 
have been the centre of the world's 
empire, that all literature should have 
been written in her characters. But she 
failed because she was not worthy of this 
honor. Her citizens knew not how to be 
patriotic. But no people can be patri- 
98 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

otic after they have become morally 
corrupt, and moral corruption follows 
close upon the heels of Godlessness. 
Doubtless there was the spirit of vin- 
dictiveness in Cato's ''Delenda est Carth- 
ago," but after all Carthage was doomed 
because of sin. 

"Delenda est Carthago, let the tear 
Still drop, deserted Carthage, on thy bier; 
Let mighty nations pause as they survey 
The world's great empires crumbled to decay; 
And, hushing every rising tone of pride. 
Deep in the heart this moral lesson hide. 
Which speaks with hollow voice as from the 

dead. 
Of beauty faded and of glory fled — 
Delenda est Carthago." 

One of the questions which engaged 
the attention of heathens and Christians 
in the days of the decline of the Roman 
empire related to the cause of this decline 
which was apparent to all eyes. The 
heathen sought to place the blame on 
Christianity, but the efiPort failed. Gib- 
bon has sometimes been represented as 
99 



COLLAPSE OF 

ascribing the fall of Rome to the influ- 
ence of Christianity, but this is a wholly 
false representation. He says, "The 
decline of Rome was the natural and 
inevitable effect of immoderate great- 
ness. Prosperity ripened the principle 
of decay; the causes of destruction mul- 
tiplied with the extent of conquest; and 
as soon as time or accident had removed 
the artificial supports, the stupendous 
fabric yielded to the pressure of its own 
weight. The story of its ruin is simple 
and obvious; and instead of inquiring 
why the Roman empire was destroyed, 
we should rather be surprised that it had 
subsisted so long." (Ch. XXXVIII.) 
It is only necessary to add a more 
specific statement to the effect that the 
empire was hoary with sin and had to be 
destroyed to make room for a more 
Christian civilization. 

In his Fast Proclamation, dated March 
30, 1863, President Lincoln gives expres- 
sion to this solemn truth. He declared 
100 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

that *'it is proven, by all history, that 
those nations only are blessed whose 
God is the Lord," and that "we know 
that, by his divine law, nations, like 
individuals, are subjected to punish- 
ments and chastisements in this world." 
For this reason he said, *'may we not 
justly fear that the awful calamity of 
civil war, which now desolates the land, 
may be a punishment inflicted upon us 
for our presumptuous sins to the needful 
end of our national reformation as a 
whole people? We have been the recip- 
ients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. 
We have been preserved, these many 
years, in peace and prosperity. We have 
grown in numbers, wealth and power as 
no other nation has ever grown. But 
we have forgotten God." 

In his second inaugural address he 
declared that there was a close connec- 
tion between the civil war and the sin 
of slavery. Then he added, "Fondly do 
we hope, fervently do we pray, that this 
101 



COLLAPSE OP 

mighty scourge of war may speedily pass 
away. Yet if God wills that it con- 
tinue until all the wealth piled by the 
bondman's two hundred and fifty years 
of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and 
until even^ drop of blood drawn by the 
lash shall be paid by another drawn with 
the sword, as was said three thousand 
years ago, so still it must be said: 'The 
judgments of the Lord are true and 
righteous altogether.' " 

Historv' bears witness to the fact that 
the root of all national sin is forgetful- 
ness of God. This thought should be 
made ver^' plain because it is the ver\' 
heart and core of this entire discussion. 
It is hard to con\-ince the masses that 
it is so. They do not readily admit that 
God has been forgotten, or that such 
forgetfulness can bring such dread 
calamities. 

Paul was stating a great historical fact 
when he declared concerning the race 
of men that when they knew God they 
102 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

glorified him not as God, neither gave 
thanks, but became vain in their rea- 
sonings; that they refused to have God 
in their knowledge; that because they 
thus dismissed God from their minds and 
lives, God gave them up unto a repro- 
bate mind to do those things which are 
not fitting. The result is that they have 
exchanged the truth of God for a lie, 
that they are given over to passions of 
dishonor, and that human society is 
corrupted at its fountain head, the 
family. (Rom. 1:28-32.) 

David was stating a profound his- 
torical truth when he said that the 
wicked shall be turned back into Sheol, 
and all the nations that forget God. (Ps. 
9:17.) 

President Lincoln was announcing a 
most deplorable fact when he said of the 
United States in the third year of the 
civil war, "We have forgotten God. 
We have forgotten the gracious hand 
which preserved us in peace, and multi- 
103 



COLLAPSE OF 

plied and enriched and strengthened us; 
and we have vainly imagined, in the 
deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these 
blessings were produced by some supe- 
rior wisdom and virtue of our own." 

There are various ways and degrees of 
forgetfulness of God. Nations may for- 
get God and still keep up the outward 
forms of religion. They may forget God 
while they are worshipping at the shrines 
of many gods. They may forget God in 
national affairs while religious activities 
in church life are at flood tide. 

In what manner and degree have the 
nations of the world forgotten God today? 
That they have forgotten him follows 
from the existence of immorality and 
vice. The great war is God's voice 
thundering forth his judgments upon the 
world for its Godlessness. It would be 
altogether aside from our purpose to 
charge the sin of Godlessness upon the 
church except in the one particular to be 
presently mentioned. Never in all the 
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CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

Christian centuries has there been such 
mighty effort on the part of the church 
to enroll recruits in the army of the Lord. 
But God is forgotten in social, in com- 
mercial and in political life. Not of 
course by everybody, but these depart- 
ments of life are certainly not Chris- 
tianized. Our chief concern just now is 
with the sphere of politics. God is for- 
gotten as the God of nations. There is 
not a nation on this planet that has cor- 
rectly adjusted itself to the great prin- 
ciples of political science announced in 
the Word of God. It is forgotten that 
nations derive their existence from God; 
that their sovereign authority is dele- 
gated by Him; that Jesus Christ is 
appointed as the administrator of the 
divine government over the nations; 
that the moral law as revealed by God 
is binding upon the nations in their 
transactions with one another as well as 
in their management of internal affairs. 
This is the solemn indictment that must 
105 



COLLAPSE OF 

be brought against even.- nation on God's 
footstool, and the great war is God's 
judgment for national Godlessness. 

The indictment to be brought against 
the church is not that it has failed to 
preach righteousness to the indi^'idual, 
but that it has failed to preach national 
righteousness. One half of the gospel 
message has not been proclaimed by the 
great body of ministers of the Word. 
They are Christ's Ambassadors to this 
worid, and yet they fail to announce the 
fact that Christ is the Ruler of the 
nations of this worid. **0 that they 
were wise, that they understood this." 

Histon' furnishes manifold e\'idence 
of the reign of Christ over the nations. 
It cannot be shown that histon' alone 
could have revealed the truth that Christ 
is this world's King. But since it has 
been revealed by all the prophets and 
apostles who have spoken since the world 
began, historv' furnishes ample confirma- 
tion of the fact. This is the key that 
106 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

unlocks all historical mysteries. There 
is no real Philosophy of History apart 
from this truth. Jesus declared that in 
these last days there would be wars and 
rumors of wars, that nation would rise 
against nation and kingdom against king- 
dom, and so it has come to pass. Only 
one directly connected with the govern- 
ment of the world could have made such 
a prediction without expressing the least 
doubt of its fulfillment. Jesus said ''All 
authority hath been given unto me both 
in heaven and on earth; go ye therefore 
and teach all nations." Only as the 
Rider of nations could he have thus 
spoken, and only by the direct exercise 
of the authority here claimed could he 
have opened the doors of all nations for 
the admission of his ambassadors. Near 
the close of his public ministry Jesus 
declared that the judgment of the world 
was about to begin, and it began by the 
fall of Jerusalem, the dispersion of the 
Jews for their rejection of him, the fall 
107 



COLLAPSE OF 

of the Roman empire, followed by the 
dread calamities that have befallen most 
of the nations of the world. It was pre- 
dicted bv Daniel that the kingdom of 
Christ would smite the great world 
empires and reduce them to powder, and 
the smiting began and earth resounded 
with the crash of falling thrones. It 
was foretold by Ezekiel that God would 
overturn, overturn, overturn, till the 
Messiah should come, and that to him 
the exercise of rulership would be given. 
This overturning has long been in prog- 
ress. Christ declared that he came, not 
to send peace on earth, but a sword. And 
the sword has been unsheathed in e very- 
generation since those words were spoken. 
It is true that he also declared that he 
that taketh the sword shall perish by the 
sword, and many have mistakenly sup- 
posed that in these words he condemned 
all war. "VMiat he condemned was wars 
of aggression whereby the territon* of one 
nation is extended by robbing another. 
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CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

He placed the seal of his approbation 
upon such wars as have for their object 
the restraining of the power and the 
thwarting of the purpose of such nations. 
How else could they perish by the sword? 
It was predicted that "He will judge 
between the nations, and will decide 
concerning many peoples; and they shall 
beat their swords into plowshares, and 
their spears into pruning-hooks, nation 
shall not lift up sword against nation, 
neither shall they learn war any more." 
This is the final and glorious outcome of 
his reign, and the pathway leads across 
many a battlefield. The lesson of his- 
tory is confirmatory of the truth that 
Jesus reigns. In the sublime words of 
Jean Paul Richter, "This Jesus, the 
holiest among the mighty and the might- 
iest among the holy, has, with that 
pierced hand of his, lifted the gates of 
empire off their hinges, turned the stream 
of centuries out of its channel, and still 
rules the ages." 

109 



COLLAPSE OF 

vm 

The Twentieth Century Collapse 

Of all the world tragedies of which his- 
tory^ furnishes a record, there is none that 
equals the tragedy of this first quarter of 
the twentieth century. It seems that all 
ci\alizations in all lands have suddenly 
collapsed. The earth trembles with the 
tread of millions of armed hosts rushing 
to the conflict. The heavens are rent 
with the thunderbolts of war and the air 
reverberates with the hurtling hail of 
shot and shell. The earth is no longer 
able to cover the multitudes of the slain. 
All the atrocities of all the past ages of 
barbarous warfare have been reproduced 
with all the added horrors that an age 
of science can invent. The resources of 
language utterly fail to give an adequate 
description of the diabolical deeds done 
by a nation which boasts of its superior 
Kultur. 

110 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

What is the cause of this modem 
collapse? This problem has received 
world-wide consideration, but the last 
word has not yet been spoken. It must 
be viewed from a number of different 
angles. On certain fundamental points 
there can no longer be a difference of 
opinion. There is no room to doubt the 
ambitious purpose of Germany to rule 
the world. This vainglorious aim is 
vigorously expressed by the Kaiser him- 
self in these words: "From my child- 
hood I have been under the influence of 
five men — Alexander, Julius Caesar, 
Theodoric II, Frederick the Great and 
Napoleon. Each of these men dreamed 
a dream of a world empire; they failed. 
I am dreaming a dream of a German 
world empire, and my mailed fist shall 
succeed." To defeat the mad purpose of 
Germany the allied nations and the 
United States entered the war. The 
Kaiser's dream was inspired by the 
111 



COLLAPSE OF 

spirits from the pit and his programme 
must be defeated. 

But even if the purpose of Germany 
should, through the adversities incident 
to war, be greatly modified, that purpose 
still transcends the legitimate rights of 
any state, and the righteousness of the 
cause of the Entente Allies shines forth 
as clear as the noonday. The world is 
weary of the reign of autocrats who 
claim to rule by divine right. There is a 
rising tide of democratic feeling through- 
out the civilized world and all thrones 
are tottering and some have already 
fallen. But the world is not safe for 
democracy until the divine right of the 
people to rule is established. This can 
be done only by the crushing of the 
militaristic, autocratic powers of the 
world. This present collapse is the col- 
lapse, not of things of permanent value, 
but of those that are doomed to perish 
because they are perishable. It is the 
voice of God who says, *'Yet once more 
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CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

will I make to tremble not the earth 
only, but also the heaven. And this 
word, Yet once more, signifieth the 
removing of those things that are shaken, 
as of things that have been made, that 
those things which are not shaken may 
remain." (Heb. 12:26, 27.) 

This exceedingly suggestive quotation 
invites us to view the present collapse 
from the divine or religious standpoint. 
It is not an uncommon thing to hear the 
assertion that God is not in this war. 
A certain type of mind utterly fails to 
comprehend how a beneficent, all-power- 
ful God can be in any way connected 
with an event so horrible. But God was 
never in anything more completely, mani- 
festly and righteously than he is in this 
war. The truth is that this war is God's 
final and supreme argument that he rules 
in the affairs of men and demands recog- 
nition. It is his voice rebuking the 
nations for their ungodliness. Nothing 
113 



COLLAPSE OF 

but war will cure some of the evils with 
which nations are cursed. 

Three evil spirits control German 
thought and inspire the ambitions of her 
rulers. The first is the spirit of rational- 
ism which teaches the all-sufficiency of 
the human intellect, involves the rejec- 
tion of the supernatural, and inspires the 
dream of the super-man. The second is 
the spirit of a Godless philosophy which 
explains the whole problem of being 
without a Creator or Divine Ruler. The 
third is the spirit of a non-moral system 
of civil government which finds no place 
for the moral law in the political realm 
and makes the state a law unto itself. 
It rests on the heresy that might makes 
right and teaches that weakness is the 
state's one unpardonable sin. It removes 
all the "nots" from the Decalogue, 
regards war as an absolute necessity, and 
declares the right of the state to break 
its treaties at pleasure. It justifies all 
the atrocities committed by Germany 
114 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

since the beginning of the Great War on 
old men, women and children. 

God is in the war, showing by the 
collapse of such a civilization the awful 
consequences of constructing society on 
such principles. All the nations need the 
same lesson because they have all erred 
in a measure. We are appalled by the 
dread calamities that have befallen the 
world, but they are only the ripened 
fruit of the tree of evil, the bitter stream 
from the poisoned fountain, the result of 
the collapse of the house built upon the 
sand. 

How shall the challenge of the present 
crisis be met.f^ To whom is it addressed? 
Not primarily to the Church but to the 
state. Evidently therefore it cannot be 
met by increased activity in evangelistic 
and missionary work for the purpose of 
getting souls safely out of this world into 
heaven, important as that may be. The 
challenge must be met primarily by 
those to whom it is addressed, by rulers 
115 



COLLAPSE OF 

and peoples squaring themselves with 
the eternal principles of righteous civil 
government. It must be met also by 
religious ambassadors as God's prophets 
to the world proclaiming this neglected 
half of the gospel message. 



116 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

IX 

"Now Therefore Be Wise, O Ye 
Kings" 

j-t seems evident that if the nations are 
to enjoy permanent peace and prosperity 
something must be done that has never 
been done before. The true remedy for 
the world's ills has never yet been tried. 
This statement may need some qualifi- 
cation or explanation. Doubtless there 
is general agreement among Christian 
people that religion is the great remedy 
for war and all other troubles by which 
the world is vexed. Many will say that 
while we have tried religion we have not 
tried it fully and what we need is more 
religion. A similar idea is expressed by 
others when they declare that the nations 
need God, because it is declared in Script- 
ure that the nation is blessed whose God 
is the Lord. What we need therefore is to 
get God on our side and all will be well. 
117 



COLLAPSE OF 

Something of the same thought is 
expressed by others who declare that 
Jesus is the great need of the world and 
that we must evangelize the masses not 
only for their indi^-idual salvation but 
also for the welfare of the nation. 

There is a profound truth expressed in 
each of these statements, and yet not 
one of them tells us specifically wliat is 
needed to put the nations in right rda- 
tkm with God. They are all too geneiaL 
They lay do obligation on the natkxi 
itself as a mora! being owing aDegianoe 
to Jesus Christ. "SMien it is said that 
the nation needs religion, faith in Provi- 
dence, God on our side, Jesus Christ as 
the Sa^-iour of society, about all that is 
meant is that it is beneficial to the nation 
if the masses of the people are personally 
pious. Just as it is a good thing for the 
individual to Uve in a religious atnios- 
pbere, so it is a good thing for the nation 
to be enswathed in a religious atmos- 
phere. This is certainly true, but what 
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CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

must the nation do to get the full bene- 
fit of religion; the benefit of having God 
as the God of the nation and Christ as 
its Saviour? It is a fine thing for the 
individual to live in a religious environ- 
ment, but he himself must do something 
positive if he is to be saved. It is a 
splendid thing for a nation to be 
enswathed in a religious atmosphere, to 
have plenty of religious sentiment all 
around its institutions, but the nation 
itself must do something positive if it 
is to be saved. What is the obligation 
of a nation toward God.^^ 

There is general agreement among the 
right in heart that President Wilson 
uttered a most noble sentiment when he 
declared that the world must be made 
safe for democracy. It is generally 
agreed also among the same class of 
people that democracy, or the sovereign 
right of the people to determine their 
own form of government, is a right that 
ought to be guaranteed in the organic 
119 



COLLAPSE OF 

law of each and every nation. If any 
nation wishes a kaiser, or a king, rather 
than a president, let the people so decide. 
The title of the chief magistrate wall not 
affect the fundamental principle of democ- 
racy. But it is clear that this principle 
of democracy must not exist as a mere 
sentiment. It must find definite expres- 
sion in some authoritative document, 
just as it does in the constitution of the 
United States. But it seems never to 
occur to the minds of many people that 
there is a divine as well as a human side 
to democracy. It means that supreme 
political authority is vested in the people. 
That is the human side. It means also 
that it is vested in the people by Almighty 
God, and that the people thus clothed 
with authority are placed under the 
rulership of Jesus Christ. This is the 
divine side. This principle must find 
expression if democracy is to be made 
safe for the world. As we cannot afford 
to let the human side of democracy exist 
120 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

as a mere sentiment, but must give it 
expression in fundamental law, even so 
we cannot afford to permit the divine 
side to exist as mere sentiment, but must 
give it expression in the same funda- 
mental law, and in the same clause of 
that law. If this is not done our system 
of democracy is imperfect, in fact, is 
seriously, even fatally, defective. This 
is our interpretation of the command to 
be wise and kiss the Son. This is the 
way to escape that moral degeneracy 
which has wrought the ruin of the great 
nations of the past. This is the remedy 
for the defects of the nations that are 
now brought to the verge of ruin by the 
great war. This is the way to appease 
the wrath of the Supreme Ruler, for that 
wrath has already been kindled. This 
step is necessary if democracy is to be 
made safe for the world. 



121 



COLLAPSE OF 



Summary Statement 

Of the things here written this is the 
sum. 

1. Almighty God has given nations 
their being, has clothed them with author- 
ity and has placed them under the ruler- 
ship of Jesus Christ who holds them 
amenable to the moral law. 

2. Nations are moral beings, because 
they have a moral character of their own 
and are rewarded and punished accord- 
ingly. 

3. Since nations are clothed with sover- 
eign authority which involves the right 
to wield dominion over both property 
and life, they cannot escape the judg- 
ments of God if they abuse their power. 

4. Thus far in the world's history 
nations have failed to adjust themselves 
to these fundamental facts, and national 
immorality follows fast upon national 

122 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

irreligion or the corruption of national 
religion. 

5. National obligations cannot be met 
by the mere submission of individuals to 
the Supreme Ruler. 

6. National welfare depends upon 
national acceptance of the fundamental, 
religious principles of political philosophy. 

7. Any system of democracy which 
ignores God, Christ and the moral law is 
fundamentally and fatally defective, and 
must either be reformed or perish. 

8. The organic law of every nation 
should embody, in the same clause which 
declares the political sovereignty of the 
people, an acknowledgment of God as 
the source of their authority to establish 
a government, of the Lord Jesus Christ 
as the administrator of the divine govern- 
ment of the nations, and of the divine 
will as supreme law in national aflFairs. 

9. History furnishes ample confirma- 
tion of all these affirmations. 



123 



COLLAPSE OF 

XI 

Difficulties 

There are certain difficulties to be 
reckoned with by our Christian popula- 
tion in seeking to bring the nation to the 
acceptance of the principles here enun- 
ciated. They may be classified as 
follows : 

1. Failure of the multitude to attach 
due importance to these principles. It 
is verv' easy for people to believe that 
guns and battleships, and shells and 
armies and na^-ies constitute the chief 
reliance of a nation and ver\' hard for 
them to believe that the attitude toward 
God makes any difference. 

2. Prevalence of the idea that all 
religion is personal and that the state has 
nothing to do with it but let it alone. 
It seems hard for many to understand 
that there is such a thing as national 
religion. 

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CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

3. Fear of invading the rights of 
non-Christians. It is held that this 
land is the refuge for the oppressed of all 
nations, and that the government there- 
fore must assume a neutral position on 
religious matters. The following dis- 
tinctions should make this matter clear. 
(1) Every individual has his own in- 
dividual religious rights which the state 
may not deny or invade. (2) The state as 
a moral being has its religious rights which 
the individual may not deny or annul. 

4. The size of the task here contem- 
plated. To awake an entire nation of 
more than a hundred million people to a 
realization of the claims of Jesus Christ 
is a hard task. But it must be done or 
we will perish. 

5. The general tendency to devote all 
reform energy to what are termed prac- 
tical reforms rather than to reforms that 
deal with fundamentals. It would be a 
great mistake to undervalue practical 
reforms. But to undervalue reforms that 

125 



COLLAPSE OF 

have to do with fundamentals is a mis- 
take equally great. We believe that all 
needed reforms of a practical nature 
should be pushed with energy. But 
this should be done in a way that will 
show the need of making a radical 
change in the formal statement of our 
democratic system. The abolition of the 
liquor traffic, the reformation of our 
marriage and divorce laws, the move- 
ment for the preservation of our Rest 
Day, and all similar efforts to lift our 
national life to a higher level — should be 
advocated on the basis of the Christian 
principles of civil government. The 
war to make the world safe for democ- 
racy should be prosecuted with the 
utmost vigor until the whole system of 
autocracy is shot through and through 
and so completely riddled that it can 
never be made to do service again. But 
this should be done in the name of a 
democracy that can claim a divine right 
to be and to do this valiant work for the 
126 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

freedom of humanity and for the glory 
of God. 

6. The belief that since church and 
state are completely separated in the 
United States our government is not 
founded on any religious basis; and that 
because this country is an asylum for the 
oppressed of all nations it would be a 
violation of our fundamental idea to 
incorporate any religious principle in the 
national constitution. In reply it must 
be said that on the face of it this con- 
tention seems to be true. There is no 
clearly stated religious principle in the 
constitution. But that is the very 
charge we bring against it and the reason 
why it should be amended. Men have 
no right to devise a new system of 
governmental authority in conflict with 
the system revealed by God. Godless- 
ness on the part of a nation is the begin- 
ning of national decadence. But we have 
the testimony of Justice Story and others 
that the founders of this republic had 
127 



COLLAPSE OF 

no thought of making it Godless. More- 
over, this country can be a safe asylum 
for the oppressed only when it finds pro- 
tection under the King of kings. Why 
should the nation be placed in jeopardy 
by yielding to the secular pleas of Christ- 
less aliens? 



128 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

XII 

Concluding Appeal 

The foregoing discussion aims pri- 
marily to present the obHgations resting 
upon the state as a moral being, the cer- 
tainty of national ruin if those obliga- 
tions are ignored, and the assurance of 
national tranquility, prosperity and per- 
petuity if they receive due considera- 
tion. The effort has been made to 
show that these national obligations can- 
not be discharged by individuals acting 
as individuals in the individual sphere of 
life. But the discussion must not be 
brought to a close without a presenta- 
tion of the obligations resting upon 
individual citizens. The argument which 
proves the existence of a weighty national 
obligation does not establish the non- 
existence of individual obligation. On 
the contrary, our obligation as citizens 
is made all the more clear and emphatic. 
129 



COLLAPSE OF 

Lines of political acti\dty are hereby 
indicated which have not been hitherto 
perceived by the multitudes, and per- 
haps but dimly seen by a chosen few. 

1. There is an obligation resting upon 
each individual to regulate all political 
action by the principles here set forth. 
This is so e\'ident that it scarcely needs 
proof. But what a revolution in politi- 
cal life would be effected if this were 
done. 

2. Citizens should employ their talents 
in the inculcation of these principles. 
This should be done as an act of patriot- 
ism. How can one who loves his country 
keep silent when national ruin threatens 
because of failure to conform to the 
principles of national righteousness? 
Ministers of the gospel especially should 
know themselves to be God's prophets 
bearing a message both to indi^^duals 
and nations and should lift up their voice 
like a trumpet to point out the obhga- 
tion resting upon them and the sin and 

130 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

danger of neglecting God's call. Ambas- 
sadors of the kingdom of heaven to the 
kingdoms of the world have neglected 
one-half of their message and as a result 
the world is cursed with Godlessness, 
overwhelmed with the dread calamities 
of war, and plunged into the abyss of 
world-wide national despair. We have a 
message from God to the nations. Let 
us not fail to deliver it in this day of 
national peril, lamentation and woe. 

3. There should be a combination of 
citizens in a movement to secure the 
amendment of the constitution of the 
United States whereby the principles here 
maintained shall be incorporated in that 
document. There should be similar 
movements in all other nations. There 
are multitudinous organizations for the 
purpose of securing almost every con- 
ceivable social and political reform. In 
so far as these organizations aim at real 
practical reforms, are organized on a 
proper basis, and pursue right methods, 
131 



COLLAPSE OF 

they are to be commended. But most of 
them fail to grasp the great fundamental 
principles on which all genuine and last- 
ing reform must rest. There is one 
organization, however, which aims espe- 
cially to secure the very ends here pro- 
posed. The National Reform Associa- 
tion came into existence in the darkest 
days of our civil war. It grew out of 
the conviction that our nation was under 
the scourge of God because our national 
religious obligation had been neglected. 
For more than half a century it has been 
proclaiming the principles here set forth 
and the obligation resulting therefrom. 
Since the outbreak of the great world-war 
it has been urging these principles upon 
our nation with quickened energy, and, 
in so far as opportunity has been found, 
leaders of thought in other nations have 
been addressed upon these vital issues. 
It is confidently believed that here is the 
one substantial basis on which all prac- 
tical reforms must rest. This is the 
132 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

touchstone which determines the validity 
of all such reforms. It furnishes the 
solution of the labor problem and all the 
kindred problems by which the nations 
are vexed and perplexed. It is the only 
basis on which international problems 
can be settled and world-wide, perma- 
nent peace secured. Let all the people 
who love righteousness and peace unite 
in this effort in behalf [of national 
reformation. 

4. None should be deterred from 
participating in such an effort by the 
specious plea that unbelievers in Chris- 
tianity would be wronged by a dis- 
tinctively Christian acknowledgment in 
the national constitution. No one is 
wronged until his rights are infringed 
upon. No one can claim the right to 
perpetuate a defective constitution just 
because it is in harmony with his dis- 
torted views. If Christianity is true 
the proposed Christian amendment is 
true. Unbelievers have no rights which 
133 



COLLAPSE OF 

override the rights of a Christian people 
to frame their government in harmony 
with their beliefs. In 1872 at a meeting 
in Cincinnati to advocate the proposed 
Christian amendment, Mr. F. E. Abbott, 
then one of the leading skeptics of our 
country, asked and obtained permission 
to present objections to the movement. 
He began by saying, "I respect this 
movement verv^ sincerely. It seems to 
me to have the logic of Christianity 
behind it, and if I were a Christian, if I 
believed in Christianity, I do not see 
how I could help taking my stand at 
your side." If an avowed infidel is able 
to see that the logic of Christianity leads 
to the conclusions presented in this dis- 
cussion, surely Christians should have a 
vision no less clear. And since national 
weal or woe is determined by the national 
attitude toward the principles and obli- 
gations here presented, and since the 
attitude of the nation is determined by 
the attitude of individual citizens, nothing 
134 



CHRISTLESS CIVILIZATIONS 

remains to be added to the argument. If 
the nation is to be secured against the 
perils that threaten its ruin it must avow 
the principles of national righteousness 
and conform its conduct to those prin- 
ciples. If this is to be done there must 
be concerted, aggressive, persistent activ- 
ity on the part of the people. 

"Shall an ultimate nation, God's own child. 
Arise and rule, nor ever conquered be; 
Untouched of time, because, all undefiled, 
'^ She makes His ways her ways eternally?" 



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